Content for Côte d'Ivoire

A concordat was made especially for “the basilica in the bush”. The church is modelled on the pope's cathedral, but was planned to top it. The concordat removes money from this desperately poor country for the upkeep of the huge and empty basilica.

Realising that taking money from the dictator of a poor country was a “delicate matter”, a clever way was found to divert attention. In 1990, with great ceremony, the Pope laid the cornerstone of a hospital, a stone which sat alone in the field for more than twenty years.

This concordat, enacted with no legislative assent, guarantees that the massive funds for the cathedral, (claimed to be from the President's private fortune), be kept tax-free, secret, able to be sent abroad and remain beyond the reach of the law. See also The Rights of Man reach an Ivorian village